BI110 Chapter Notes - Chapter 15: Treadmilling, Pseudopodia, Extracellular Fluid
Document Summary
Fibers of the cytoskeleton allow for cellular locomotion and also anchor intracellular components in place. In 1930, rudolf peters theorized intracellular scaffolding was present and that the scaffolding organized organelles and facilitated cellular movement. Paul wintrebert coined the term cytoskeleton to describe scaffolding. Cytoskeleton is a fibrous network of proteins organizing cellular components and facilitates cellular activities: eukaryotic cells based on 3 major cytoskeletal structures: microtubules, microfilaments, intermediate filaments. Unlike skeletal system, components of cytoskeleton easily disassemble and reorganize. Cilia and flagella contain pairs of microtubules that can move relative to one another, causing cilia or flagella to bend: muscles contract through sliding groups of microfilaments toward each other within each muscle fibril. Microfilaments in amoeboid movement are responsible for finger-like projections called pseudopodia that allow movement. In plants, cytoskeleton allows cytoplasmic streaming, ensuring delivery of nutrients to the entire cell. Aka actin filaments, are polymers of globular protein actin.